Cauliflower dish

http://food.ndtv.com/recipe-gobhi-masaledaar-100417

How to make paneer in instant pot

1. Keep 3 liters of milk in instant pot and press yogurt button                      

2.then quickly press 'adjust' button then the display will show " boil" . Leave it until you see the display change to " yoght"

3. Now your milk is boiled to the correct temperature.  Open the lid when you are able to.  In a minute there will be steam, so it takes about a minute to open the lid.

4. Add tablespoons of lemon juice one spoon at a time and keep stirring the milk in one direction. After 2 or 3 spoonfuls, the milk start to break. Add + Stir until you see a light yellowing, greenish translucent liquid and broken milk solid masses

5. Quickly strain on a strainer lined with cheese cloth and pour everything on it. Pick the cheese cloth by ends and make a bundle. Squeeze some water out with hands without burning your hand. It will be HOT. Let it hang for 5 minutes.                      

6. Keep it under a weight, and set the timer for 20 or 25 minutes
You will get yummy soft paneer, which wont break down or crumble, which will be much better quality than store-bought.

Thanks to my friend Rakhi for the instructions!

Absurdly Easy Chocolate Fudge

Shared by my friend Rakhi

INGREDIENTS

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, plus extra for greasing the pan
• 1 pound semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
• 1 14-ounce sweetened condensed milk
• ⅛ teaspoon salt (optional)
• ½ cup chopped nuts (optional)

PREPARATION

1. Butter an 8-inch-square baking pan. Line with parchment or wax paper, letting edges of paper hang over sides of pan.
2. In top of a double boiler or a metal bowl set over (not resting in) simmering water, combine all ingredients except nuts. Mix just until melted and well combined. (Alternatively, use a microwave on low power to melt ingredients, stopping every 10 to 20 seconds to mix well.) The mixture should be heated as little as possible. Mix in nuts, if using.
3. Scrape mixture into prepared pan. Refrigerate until set, about 4 hours or overnight. Lift fudge on paper out of pan and use a large knife to cut into squares.

original post: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013071-absurdly-easy-chocolate-fudge

Spicy pork masala varatti - kerala style

https://www.alittlebitofspice.com/pork-fry-nadan-pork-ularthiyathu-kerala-style-recipe

Cooking times on IP

• 
  

 http://instantpot.com/cooking-time/. Some cooking times shared by our members is below, note it would take couple of trial and error to get it exactly how you and your family prefer, this is just a suggestion based on their experience. Note: The cooking time also varies depending on the altitude of your location.

Basmati rice - Manual 4 minutes 1:1.5, QR

Sona masoori rice - Manual 6 minutes 1:2.5 or rice button, QR

Brown basmati rice - Manual 22 minutes 1:3, QR

Quinoa - Manual 0-1 minute, 1:1, QR

Moong dal - Manual 5 minutes, NR

Toor dal - Manual 12 minutes NR (There have been some known issues with certain batches/brand of toor dal, see https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ins...)

Chana dal - Manual 15 minutes, NR

Garbanzo/Chole - Manual 15 - 18 minutes, NR

Rajma - Manual 15 - 18 minutes, NR

Kala chana - Manual 20 minutes, NR

Eggs - Manual/Steam 5 minutes, see QR after 5 minutes https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ins...

Veggies - Most the veggies are cooked in Manual 0-1 minutes QR (broccoli, cauliflower takes only 0 minutes QR else they get mushy).

Beets - Steam 20 minutes, NR

Taro root - Steam 12 minutes (bigger ones cut into half) NR

Potato - Steam 5 minutes (bigger ones cut into half), see https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ins...

Pasta - Penne for an Al dente consistency 2 mins manual QR (Quick Release) Spaghetti 0 mins manual QR Shell pasta - small or medium - 1 min manual QR Any other kind - 1 or 2 mins manual QR Please note that the above are guidelines for pasta cook time, depending on the type of pasta, altitude you are in and the way you like your pasta cooking times will vary. If you play around with it once or twice you will know the exact time. Any where between 2-8 mins has been the average.

Semiya - ~3-4 minutes, QR

Rava Upma - 4 minutes QR.

Instant pot upma

I'm gonna share 3 of my tried and tested recipes for upma. My upma used to come out all sticky/gooey until I got it right with my friend Priya's Simple Rava Upma.

1) Vermicelli Upma
2) Rava/Sooji Upma with vegetables
3) Simple Rava/Sooji Upma

1) Vermicelli Upma (Kavitha Rangan's recipe on Fb Page - Instant Pot for Indian Cooking)

About 2 cups Vermicelli
3-4 Green Thail chillies - slit
Few Curry leaves
Coriander leaves
One onion sliced/chopped
In SAUTE high add 2 tsps oil.
When hot add 1 tsp black gram dhal, Channa dhal, 1 tsp mustard seeds, slit green chillies, curry leaves, and slit/chopped onion. 

SAUTE for 1-2 minutes, add vermicelli about 2 cups. 
SAUTE for a minute add 1 tsp turmeric, salt to taste and just enough water to cover vermicelli. 

Cover and cook in MANUAL for 1 min and after about a minute Quick Release the pressure (Vermicelli cooks very fast). 

Open and add  juice of half a lemon/lime (optional)
Add coriander leaves to garnish.
_________________________________________________________________
2) Rava/Sooji Upma with vegetables

Dry roast 2 cups of upma/sooji and keep it aside. In IP it takes about 8-10 min in saute mode, stirring occasionally. While it is getting toasted, I chop half of an onion, 1 green chilly, 1/2 inch of ginger very finely. Followed by that i take a handful of green beans and chop it thin. I use one large carrot,  peel it out in layers using my potato peeler, and chop it finely. If you have a veggie chopper use that for beans and carrots - you get it done in under a minute.

While toasting the sooji/rava in instant pot, I keep the water to heat on my stove. Water quantity is 2X the amount of sooji. 4 cups in my case. By the time sooji is heated up, water will also be ready. I take about 1/4 cup of water in a separate vessel, and put chopped beans and chopped carrots in it for boiling. Add a teaspoon of coconut oil also to it. Let the water evaporate, so only the veggies remain.

Next, transfer the dry roasted sooji from IP into another vessel. Add 1 tblspoon coconut oil, mustard, and 1 tablespoon urad dal along with salt to your taste(I add 1 teaspoon) to your IP in saute mode. Once urad dal is light brown, add onion/green chilli/ginger/pinch of turmeric powder and saute for 3-4 mins. Next add the carrot/green beans which would have been half cooked. Mix it well. Next add the dry sooji, and mix well. Add water, stirring so it coats the sooji. Cover and keep for 4 mins in sealed mode. Open the lid after 4 mins, add small cubes of butter (1 table spoon), and start breaking apart the sooji, so the water vapor trapped inside will get out and makes it not sticky. Keep doing it till you feel it is fluffy soft consistency - about 2-3 mins. Keep it there for another 2 mins to settle, and enjoy.

_____________________________________________________________
3) Simple Rava/Sooji Upma

This is my friend Priya's style (the original one :)

1. Roast Rava in a bit of oil or ghee (you need to do this even if you buy roasted Rava)  you can roast it in bulk and keep it in pantry too.  You need to roast it till it starts to turn light brown                    
2. Crack mustard,  then saute half an onion. After few minutes,  add chopped green chilies, ginger and curry leaves. After a minute add any chopped veggies and salt. Saute for another minute. Then add few cashews                    
3. While you are doing the sauteing,  boil water in a separate pan.  Add enough salt to the water too.
For 1 cup of Rava, I use 2 cups of water                    
4. Add roasted Rava to sauted veggies.  Now add boiled water and cover it for 1 or 2 minutes  



5. Add a bit of ghee,   reduce the flame, stir well and cover it for another minute


We have the rava upma with ripe banana, or pappads, chutney powder, chutney, sambar, chole etc.. whats your favorite combination?

Reading Program - Summary

Goals:

1. Long word decoding skills

2. Develop fluency

3. Build comprehension

4. Become strong independent reader

Class rules:

1. Polite

2. Participation

Today Tasks

Chapter 1

2

3

Vowels, consonants - short sounds

Reading long words

4

5

6

Parent Meeting

Reading Strategies: 

Chapter 1:

main character - has a goal. What is it?

After each CHAPTER: 

Tell back - what do u remember happens next (we know they go looking for... See a mount... Go there looking for bones .. They find bones.. What kind of bones do they find? They were fossil bones. What kind of animal bones were they? Open book - go to page over here - ehat kind of bones were thry? Cattle bones. Are cattle bones exciting? No! Are dino bones excitjng? Yes! How do u think character name feels about getting cattle bones? He gets frustrated. If youfind cattle bones can u still be a dinosaur hunter? 

* who are the other characters? What is each one like - nice, not nice?  

* what kind of person is this character?

* do they like to do  anything together?

* Think about what makes someone a really good friend?

CHAPTER 2

Go ahead and read chapter 3. What do u find in there?

  

CHAPTER 3:

Tell back

Remember it is taking long time to find those bones. 

Do u think g is a good person. What makes u think he is a good friend? Probe... What r some of the nice things he has done? He doesn't lie; asks for permission all the time, if it is ok with doing the things they r going to do; 

Now that they have found real dinosaur bones, how do u think Ned feels now? Feels proud. Why? He is proud because he has been looking and didnt find dino bones until now.

Did he get to his goal? 

Now, close book. Whwnever u read book, there r fe books u wouldnt have read. I am going to help u find out what words they r.

How many vowels r there? 5

What r the 5 vowels? A, e (another one), o (last one..), u

Raise hand: have u ever heard of a syllable. If i say matt, how many syllables r there? 1. How do u know? U clap once - one sound. M

1 vowel sound is the same as one syllable.

Map - how many syllables it have? 1. How many vowels? 1

Pen - how many syllables it have? 1. How many vowels? 1. Which one is it? One vowel makes one syllable sound.

I have the word 'run'. Vowels make short vowel sound, and one long vowel sound

N is a consonant. If a word ends with consonant, it will make a short vowel sound. 

If there r two syllables, how many vowels would it have? 2

Win-ter

If i dont know the word, how do i know if it is a short or long vowel sound?

How many consonants r between the vowel? VccV - short vowel & short vowel sounds

Win-ter

Trum-pet VccV break after consonant - short vowel-short vowel

Go to Workbook- "Syllables ending in consonant makes a short vowel sound"

Kaboom, kablam, kapow

Shout once to erase the tasks we have covered. Raise ur hand for kaboom.

Raise hand for kablam.

Raise hand for kapow..

Ok, kapow wins. When i say 1, everyone shout kapow.. one.. "KAPOWWWW'

Restroom break. Form a line, quite indoor voices as u walk out. Kids follow instruction - pin drop silence!!

Walk to ur seat. All seated.

Next part. Im gonna help u read long  words. Three steps:

1. Count the vowels

2. Sound out slowly

3. Say it fast

"I had a fantastic day!"

How many vowels - 3 show ur fingers

VccVccV

Short vowels

Three syllable word. How many vowels? 3

September. How many vowels? 3

Next, i am going to sound it out. What am i missing here? Consonants

VccVccVc

Sep-tem-ber short vowels - say it slow - say it fast

If we get chance at end if class, we play hangman. 

Lets do kabaam now that we r end of chapter 3. KABAAM!!

Lets go to chapter 4.

What is he trying to do?

What happens if he gets tricked? What u think? He will lose his bones. Will he get his money? Not many dinosaur hinters r nice.

Go to chapter 5. If u finish reading chapter 5, continue working on ur blue workbook - page 79.

What is a tellback? Do u remember?

Goid job! When u read part if a story, and tell someone what u remember aboutthe story to ur partner.

Tell what u remember about chapter 5. Who is the stranger? Wgat was he trying to do? How much money was mr read trying to give ned? Is it s lot if money? Is that going to get u the bones in a museum? What is ned trying to do when he knows he is going to get silver coin.? He takes him to cattle bones - mr readwalks  away pretty angry.

If he tricks mr. read, what dies that tellabout  ned? Smart, clever.

Now we start chapter 6. How does story end? How does ned get to keep bones in the museum? I want u to read and tell us what happened, ok? 

In chapter 6, ned tells his dad everything that happens. They go to george's home. His dad says there was a spy asking for dinosaur bones. Now neds dad tells how ned met that spy. G's dad asks ned can i still buy those bines. Ned says yes, as long as u put them in the museum. G's dad says yes, and that he would put his name in there as well.

Tell what happens in the beginning middle and end of the story.

Beginning: Ned looks and finds dino bones and cattle bones

Middle:

Mr read tried to trick ned, but ned tricks him back

End: What gappens at the very dnd of the story? Ned gets his bones to the museum and is a dinosaur hunter. 

Remember in the story ned merts many guys who helps him and is nice. And one mr read who is not nice.

Tell ur partner who is one person who is nice to u, and helps u get to ur goals.

Alright, good job! Tell me who is someone who is nice to u, u can really count on. 

Raise ur hand if y want kabloom, kabam, kapow..

1 2 2.5 2.75 3

KAPOW

Next read longer chapter books with longer words. 

Have 2 books in the oacket - for u to keep. 

Watch welcome video - read intro in program guide - guidance & prog overview. 

Have homeworks - they have to do tellbacks. At this age, lot wont remember all drtails. We r here to inderstand how to read and remember what the story is about. There r four sessions. Make sure u do it before end of next week. If u have questions asknat end of the class

At end of 5 weeks i will give them their book level recommendation. It will be a book like

Dinosaur hunter, tornado, or a longer chapter book.

Lets give a round of applause for hiw great they have been!!!